Mr Stanton was one of five members of the public who spoke prior to council considering its response to Lyne MP David Gillespie's so-called "Manning Valley Better Roads Survey" "so-called" because the majority of speakers challenged its validity.

Dr Gillespie had been invited by council to attend the meeting but he was in Canberra.

Dr Gillespie, in a press release last Friday, said: "The community wants council to start listening. The community wants council to start acknowledging the problems and look at better and more efficient ways of delivering infrastructure and services. The community also wants council to understand their priorities."

The mayor began Wednesday night's meeting by saying council should not walk away from this issue, the issue being the withdrawal of $11.4 million of federal funding for the Greater Taree Roads and Bridges Package, secured by the previous federal member, Rob Oakeshott.

The first speaker, Christine Stanton from Tinonee, said she was "appalled by the stance Dr Gillespie is taking."

"Our mayor has been making a very dignified but forceful response to Dr Gillespie and in return has received a slap in the face a slap in the face to our community.

"Our community is in great need. We are asking for money that has been paid by us through taxes.

"Our Dr Gillespie should be screaming in the streets, not shovelling the dirt."

Harrington resident Nawal Maharaj studied the questionnaire results in detail and found errors there were 2314 respondents but 2679 roadworks were identified by those respondents.

He also opposed the language Dr Gillespie used in calling the respondents "households".